GETTYSBURG COLLEGE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT...EDUCATION DEPARTMENT Teacher,Education,Program,Curriculum,&,Portfolio,Guide,!p.!2! ARTIFACTS

GETTYSBURG COLLEGE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT CURRICULUM & PORTFOLIO GUIDELINES

C U R R IC U L U M & P O R T F O L IO G U ID E GETTYSBURG COLLEGE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

Weidensal l Hal l , Room 106 / Campus Box 0396 Gettysburg , Pennsylvania 17325-1400 / T : 717.337.6550

http : / /www.gettysburg .edu/academics /educat ion

The Education Department at Gettysburg College strives to prepare knowledgeable, creative, culturally-‐‑responsive teachers who foster the development and growth of all learners by engaging

them in worthwhile learning experiences framed by inquiry and meaningful assessment.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES Courses offered in the teacher education program are centered on five principles.

principle (n): a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior or for a chain of reasoning

Principle One: Foundational Knowledge The beginning teacher should have extensive, flexible knowledge of the social, cultural, historical, philosophical, and psychological foundations of education in the United States.

Principle Two: Pedagogical Content Knowledge Beginning teachers should have extensive, flexible knowledge of the subject(s) they teach, and of how to relate that knowledge to students in powerful ways that promote active student engagement with, and reflection on, questions of enduring importance in human relationships.

Principle Three: Assessment of Student Learning The beginning teacher should have the ability to engage in assessment practice that is fair-‐‑minded, comprehensive, analytic, and authentic, and should be able to create learning environments that are conducive to the moral, social, and intellectual development of students.

Principle Four: Professional Dispositions & Professional Development Beginning teachers should understand and demonstrate fidelity to accepted codes of professional practice, and they should demonstrate a firm commitment to their own professional development by engaging in reflective practice and by fostering relationships with colleagues, parents, and others to support student learning and well being.

Principle Five: Teaching Diverse Learners Beginning teachers should have knowledge of how to address the needs of all learners, including English language learners and other diverse learners with special education needs placed in inclusive settings, and they should actively work to integrate all students, regardless of their perceived abilities, into the teaching and learning process.

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT Teacher Education Program Curriculum & Portfolio Guide, p. 2

ARTIFACTS Students will include ten artifacts in their portfolios to reflect their understanding of the five principles.

artifact (n): something observed in a scientific investigation or experiment that is not naturally present but occurs as a result of the preparative or investigative procedure

P1: Foundational Knowledge A1: Foundations of education

Artifact produced in Education 199. A2: Educational psychology

Artifact produced in Education 201.

P2: Pedagogical Content Knowledge A3: Subject-‐‑area content knowledge

Artifact produced in major coursework. A4: Content knowledge for teaching

Artifact produced in content-‐‑area methods course (Education 306, 310, 331, or 350). A5: Instructional planning and practice

Artifact produced in content-‐‑area methods course (Education 306, 310, 331, or 350)

P3: Assessment of Student Learning A6: Assessment planning and practice


P4: Professional Dispositions & Professional Development A7: Professional dispositions

Artifact produced in Education 476. A8: Professional development


P5: Teaching Diverse Learners A9: Teaching students with diverse learning needs

Artifact produced in Education 340. A10: Teaching culturally and linguistically diverse learners



ADDITIONAL DESCRIPTION OF ARTIFACTS Program coursework will support the development of student artifacts correlated to the five principles. P1 Foundations of Education

The beginning teacher should have extensive, flexible knowledge of the social, cultural, historical, philosophical, and psychological foundations of secondary education in the United States.

(A1) Social, cultural, historical, and philosophical foundations: Secondary schooling in the United States occurs in a variety of settings and with a variety of purposes and objectives. It is widely accepted that schools should prepare students for active participation in society but methods of achieving this goal remain contested. We believe teachers should understand how different political, economic, socio-‐‑cultural, and multicultural rationales for public education have helped shape the way students are educated in secondary schools today, and appreciate the importance of free universal public schooling to the health of a democratic society. Candidates will:

i. Demonstrate knowledge of the cultural and historical foundations of schooling in the United States, especially including the development of the first common schools, progressive education, and efforts undertaken in the twentieth century to promote equity and access in public schools;

ii. Demonstrate understanding of the aims and purposes of public education, particularly as articulated by democratic philosophers such as Dewey, as well as critiques of such approaches;

iii. Demonstrate understanding of the politics of education in the United States, particularly with regard to issues such as school funding, school choice, and legislative priorities associated with schooling;

iv. Demonstrate understanding of the organizational structures of schooling, especially with regard to how schools are organized to support the social, emotional, and intellectual development of all students, and explore the notion of schools as “communities of practice.”

Artifact 1 is typically completed as a teaching philosophy project in Education 199.


(A2) Educational psychology: As our understanding of the nature of teaching and learning evolves, approaches and methods employed to govern the learning process in schools changes as well. Educational psychologists continue to debate the epistemological principles that organize the teaching and learning process in schools, and secondary schools reflect these tensions in various ways. How teachers plan and organize instruction, manage the classroom environment, and adapt instruction to meet the unique cognitive, developmental, emotional, and social needs of students are all shaped by the way teachers rationalize the instructional process. Prospective teachers should be expected to understand generally accepted psychological principles of teaching and learning, and should also be prepared to use this understanding to shape their own sense of what it means to be an effective professional teacher. Candidates will:

v. Develop an interest in, and an appreciation for, the complex interaction of development, cognition, motivation, attitudes, and teacher/student relationships in the learning process;

vi. Begin to read educational research critically, assessing the modes of inquiry associated with social science research and gleaning from it what will be useful to them as classroom teachers;

vii. Explore effective evidence-‐‑based instructional strategies, curriculum adaptations, and classroom management approaches;

viii. Demonstrate knowledge of the curricular foundations of the subjects they plan to teach; and

ix. Plan for instruction that includes authentic assessment practice in support of state and national standards that enhances instruction for all learners.

Artifact 2 is typically completed as a preliminary assessment project in Education 201.


P2 Pedagogical Content Knowledge Beginning teachers should have extensive, flexible knowledge of the subject(s) they teach, and should know how to relate that knowledge to students in powerful ways that promote active student engagement with, and reflection on, questions of enduring importance in human relationships.

(A3) Subject-‐‑area content knowledge: It is widely accepted that teachers should know the subjects they teach, but what does it mean, exactly, to “know” a subject well enough to teach it? We believe that knowledge of the relevant parent discipline from which a given school subject is derived establishes one cornerstone of the foundation of content knowledge needed to teach effectively. As such, prospective teachers at Gettysburg College are expected to major in a subject area or discipline relevant to the subject area(s) they wish to teach. Programs and course sequences in these disciplinary areas are determined by the respective academic departments on campus responsible for establishing them.

Artifact 3 is typically completed as a capstone project in the major.

(A4) Content knowledge for teaching: If disciplinary knowledge is one cornerstone of the foundation of effective teaching, the ability to represent disciplinary knowledge in ways that engage students is equally important. Teachers should understand how knowledge is created and organized in relevant disciplines, and they should understand how the subject or subjects they wish to teach have been derived from those disciplines through formalization in the school curriculum. Effective teachers should understand how to represent ideas in ways that stimulate intellectual growth and creativity in students, and they should be capable of drawing on the “best practices” used by experienced teachers to represent the school curriculum to students in meaningful ways. Candidates will:

i. Understand the structures of the subject(s) they plan to teach, focusing on the nature of each subject’s parent discipline and on how the subject is conceptualized in secondary schools;

ii. Analyze and evaluate both the official curricula and the “hidden” curricula of formal schooling, focusing on the role teachers play in writing and interpreting curriculum;

iii. Explore connections between the subject(s) they plan to teach and other school subjects, as well as visual art, performance art, music, film, and other forms of media and creative expression;

iv. Demonstrate mastery of the subject-‐‑specific competencies associated with their content area, if appropriate.

Artifact 4 is typically completed as a curriculum development project in the methods course.


(A5) Instructional planning and practice: Effective teachers are, first and foremost, effective planners of instruction: they know how to organize knowledge in ways that engage students morally, emotionally, and intellectually. Effective teachers also understand the importance of ensuring that students master essential skills and demonstrate knowledge of ideas contained in the school curriculum and plan their instructional practice to promote these ends. Graduates of the teacher education program at Gettysburg College will demonstrate mastery of the principles of effective planning and instructional design embedded in the Education Department’s approved instructional planning guidelines through the successful implementation of instructional plans in their field experiences. Candidates will:

v. Demonstrate the ability to develop and teach high quality instructional plans that are developmentally appropriate, are thoughtfully connected to relevant state and/or national standards, and that encourage inquiry into recurring ideas in the human experience;

vi. Integrate appropriate forms of instructional technology into their teaching practice and demonstrate the ability to select appropriate supplemental teaching resources from the array of resources made available technologically;

vii. Address the moral, emotional, and intellectual development of students by developing instructional plans that challenge, nurture, and help sustain such growth;

viii. Effectively utilize the Education Department’s guidelines for instructional planning by demonstrating the ability to plan for instruction using the Department’s instructional planning template as a guide.

Artifact 5 is typically completed as an instructional planning project in the methods course.


P3 Assessment of Student Learning The beginning teacher should have the ability to engage in assessment practice that is fair-‐‑minded, comprehensive, analytic, and authentic, and should be able to create learning environments that are conducive to the moral, social, and intellectual development of students.

(A6) Assessment planning and practice: One of the most important aspects of professional teaching practice involves assessing student work. The most effective teachers begin with assessment: they decide what they want students to learn, then carefully plan instructional experiences to ensure that learning occurs. The assessment practices they engage in are comprehensive (involving multiple assessment strategies, both formal and informal), fair-‐‑minded (demonstrating sensitivity to the diversity of student learning perspectives), analytic (they reflect validity and reliability), and authentic (they connect in demonstrable ways to the expected outcomes of learning experiences). Effective teachers create assessments aligned with these principles and analyze the results of assessments that have been implemented to modify instruction, address the varied needs of students, and support the ability of students to link learning experiences to experiences that occur outside the classroom. Candidates will:

i. Demonstrate the ability to assess student learning in multiple ways, using formal and informal means, in order to promote student acquisition of learning goals, and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each approach, with an eye toward applying the results of ongoing assessment to instructional practice;

ii. Demonstrate sensitivity to the variety of learning abilities and styles students bring to the classroom with them by developing comprehensive assessment instruments that address these multiple needs;

iii. Create assessment instruments characterized by reliability and validity and demonstrate the ability to effectively monitor and report on student growth in the classroom;

iv. Draw clear connections between established learning goals and the instruments created to assess those goals.

Artifact 6 is typically completed as a comprehensive assessment project in Education 405.


P4 Professional Dispositions & Professional Development Beginning teachers should understand and demonstrate fidelity to accepted codes of professional practice, and they should demonstrate a firm commitment to their own professional development by engaging in reflective practice and by fostering relationships with colleagues, parents, and others to support student learning and well-‐‑being.

(A7) Professional dispositions: Effective teachers are skilled at creating environments for learning that are safe, disciplined, conscientiously managed, and conducive to the free expression of ideas. Candidates will:

i. Effectively manage the physical classroom environment when teaching by ensuring that students are actively engaged in the learning process;

ii. Effectively manage the learning experiences of students by demonstrating an ability to organize instruction in both a “micro” sense (i.e. at the level of the individual instructional plan) and in a “macro” sense (i.e. at the level of organizing instruction into units and courses);

iii. Promote the development of learning environments that support the intellectual and social development of all students within a classroom, including those with unusual instructional needs; and

iv. Demonstrate fidelity to the Pennsylvania Code of Professional Practice and Conduct for Educators through their actions and by completion of the self report of Good Moral Character.

Artifact 7 is typically completed as a professional dispositions project in Education 405.

(A8) Professional development: Attainment of the status of professional teaching requires deep levels of knowledge and expertise, as well as maturity, responsibility, and the willingness to commit to continuing professional development. We believe that professional teachers should immerse themselves in a continuum of theory and reflective practice, one in which new theoretical insights result in practical ingenuity that leads, in turn, to further theoretical insights. It is expected that all graduates of the teacher education program will adhere to the Pennsylvania Code of Professional Practice and Conduct for Educators and express their fidelity to this code as a condition of continuation in the program. Candidates will:

v. Collaborate with colleagues to improve student learning experiences; vi. Design and execute an action research project that advances their skills as reflective

practitioners and showcases their growth as teachers; and vii. Demonstrate professional integrity, especially with regard to adhering to the

guidelines for professional conduct outlined in the Pennsylvania Code of Professional Practice and Conduct for Educators.

Artifact 8 is typically completed as a professional development project in Education 405.


P5 Teaching Diverse Learners Beginning teachers should have knowledge of how to address the needs of all learners, including English language learners and other diverse learners placed in inclusive settings, and they should actively work to integrate all students, regardless of their perceived abilities, into the teaching and learning process.

(A9) Teaching students with diverse learning needs: Certified teachers in Pennsylvania are expected to understand the needs of diverse learners educated in inclusive settings and to know how to adapt instruction to address the needs of those students. Teachers should be aware of the multiple intelligences students bring to the classroom and the varied ways students approach and understand school knowledge, and should be able to adapt instruction to meet those needs. Candidates will:

i. Demonstrate knowledge of the philosophical, historical and legal foundations of the movement to create inclusive school environments for students with disabilities;

ii. Express understanding of student learning differences to support creation of inclusive learning environments;

iii. Describe the characteristics and prevalence of the learning exceptionalities most commonly found in schools;

iv. Identify the roles of, and collaborative strategies used by, teams and team members to plan and implement adaptations and accommodations for diverse learners;

v. Identify instructional approaches, materials, assistive technologies, and assessment methods utilized by collaborative teams to meet the learning needs of all students;

vi. Plan a standards-‐‑based instructional lesson for diverse learners using the concepts of differentiated instruction and universal design, and including the utilization of low-‐‑ and/or high-‐‑tech devices.

Artifact 9 is typically created in Education 340.


(A10) Teaching culturally and linguistically diverse learners: Teachers should be acutely aware of the special needs of students who do not speak English as their first language. To address the needs of English language learners, teachers should develop extensive knowledge of their students’ cultural backgrounds and of the unique challenges faced by students asked to learn school content even as they learn the language spoken in schools. Teachers should then consider this knowledge as they develop their instructional plans and assess student learning. Candidates will:

vii. Identify and understand major theoretical frameworks related to immigrant assimilation and language acquisition, including how assumptions about culture, language, and identity manifest in popular educational programs and in teaching methods used with immigrant students;

viii. Understand the political, economic, cultural, linguistic, legal, and historical contexts surrounding the experience of immigrant and ELL students and their families, and identify social and academic challenges that immigrant students face both inside and outside of school;

ix. Critically examine various phenomena that account for variability among immigrant populations with regard to academic achievement and social adjustment in multiple disciplines (including sociology, anthropology, psychology, linguistics, and education) by reading empirical studies on immigrant and ELL students’ adjustment in U.S. schools;

x. Become familiar with pedagogical approaches, techniques, and methods used to help English language learners develop English language fluency while acquiring content knowledge in subject areas;

xi. Become familiar with both formal and informal assessment strategies used to measure the English language proficiency of English language learners.

Artifact 10 is typically created in Education 320.


F I E LD E X P ER I ENCES

Candidates for certification must meet certain requirements within each stage of fieldwork in order to be recommended for certification. These requirements fall into six categories:

A. Planning and preparation (PP) B. Classroom environment (CE) C. Instructional delivery (ID) D. Professional conduct (PC) E. Student assessment (SA) F. Teaching diverse learners (DL)

Candidates for certification at Gettysburg College are required to complete a series of rigorous field experiences in preparation for teaching. The culminating field experience is the student teaching internship, but leading to it are several carefully planned experiences designed to complement the coursework completed as students work their way through the Teacher Education program. These experiences are planned by course instructors to comply with guidelines established by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Included below are brief descriptions of each stage of fieldwork.

Field Experience Stage One: Observation. Field work completed in this portion of the teacher education experience is intended to complement foundational coursework by inviting students to observe a variety of different learning environments while focusing on such questions as: What is the nature of the teaching and learning process? How do teachers manage their classrooms? Do students appear to be engaged in the learning process? How can you tell? What principles of teaching and learning are on display in the various environments you observed? How do the teaching styles of different individual teachers seem to connect (or not connect) to the learning styles of students?

Field Experience Stage Two: Exploration. Field work completed in this portion of the teacher education experience is intended to complement foundational coursework by inviting students to observe a variety of different learning environments while focusing on such questions as: What have I learned so far about effective teaching and about the principles of learning that I can apply in learning environments with students? What is the most effective way to plan instructional activities for students to ensure that learning occurs? How can I make assessable goals for learning and incorporate them into my teaching practice? Students in the exploration phase will become involved in tutoring or in after school programs in which they will have opportunities to teach students one-‐‑on-‐‑one or team-‐‑teach with other candidates for certification.

Field Experience Stage Three: Pre-‐‑Student Teaching. During the Pre-‐‑Student Teaching stage of field work, students are expected to participate fully in classroom activities and even teach students in small groups. Work in Stage 3 is expected to be completed independently—in other words, candidates are expected to lead small group activities on their own or lead whole class activities while closely supervised by a cooperating teacher or other faculty member.


Field Experience Stage Four: Student Teaching. In the final stage of fieldwork, candidates for certification complete a student teaching internship. The internship must be completed under the supervision of a cooperating classroom teacher and under the supervision of College faculty, and it must last for a minimum of twelve weeks; the student teaching internship must also include at least two weeks (at minimum) of full-‐‑time teaching. Student teachers are expected to participate fully in the experience of professional teaching—including important meetings and in extracurricular activities, where appropriate—to ensure proper induction into the rigors of professional teaching.

For the purposes of assessment, PDE has grouped competencies for Stage 1 and Stage 2 together in its guidelines. Listed below are the indicators of student learning that must be met in these two stages.

In Stage 1 and Stage 2, students will:

• Describe the planning and preparation challenges faced by teachers with regard to selecting content, planning instructional experiences, and developing learning goals that address the needs of individual students, including students with diverse learning needs, by reporting their reflections on observation teaching experiences.

• Describe how teachers manage the classroom environment to ensure that students are comfortable and engaged in academic work by reporting their reflections on observation and teaching experiences.

• Describe the methods of instruction used by classroom teachers to engage students in instructional experiences, focusing especially on how technological resources are used in the classroom by reporting their reflections on observation and teaching experiences.

• Describe how teachers assess student learning by identifying how teachers approach assessment and reporting on methods used by reporting their reflections on observation and teaching experiences.

• Demonstrate compliance with expectations related to ethical behavior and professional conduct by obtaining necessary clearances to complete fieldwork and by receiving an acceptable field experience evaluation from a cooperating teacher.

Evidence of learning will be provided by students as a pre-‐‑requisite for admission to the Teacher Education Program. This evidence will be provided in the form of Field Artifact 1 (FA1) as part of the Education 199 course—a reflection on accumulated observation experiences in schools up to that point. Field Artifact 2 (FA2) will be created in Education 201.

Evidence of learning will also be provided by course instructors and cooperating mentor teachers or other supervisory personnel, who will complete surveys after each field experience completed in Stages 1 and 2, as appropriate.


In Stage 3, students will:

• Demonstrate knowledge of the ways teachers select content, plan instructional experiences, and develop learning goals to address the needs of individual students, including students with diverse learning needs, by designing a curriculum project and teaching at least one instructional lesson in a classroom situation, and by reflecting on the similarities and differences between various approaches to teaching similar content. (Education 306, 331, or 350)

• Demonstrate the emerging ability to manage the classroom environment by developing a course syllabus that outlines key procedures, communicates expectations to students, and outlines learning experiences that will be part of the curriculum. (Education 306, 331, or 350)

• Demonstrate the ability to use a variety of instructional methods and approaches to assessment to help students meet established learning goal by teaching and assessing at least one instructional lesson in a classroom situation and by reflecting on the similarities and differences between various approaches to teaching similar content. (Education 306, 331, or 350)

• Demonstrate awareness of the diverse learning needs of students by developing and teaching an instructional plan based on the principles of differentiated instruction and reporting on effective practices used in a classroom-‐‑based field placement to communicate with families and others in the broader community about student learning experiences. (Education 320 and Education 340)

• Demonstrate emerging professional skills by communicating effectively with cooperating teachers, complying with established school policies and procedures, and maintaining professional relationships with colleagues and other school personnel. (Education 306, 331, or 350; Education 320; Education 340)

Evidence of learning will be provided by students in the form of Field Artifact 3 (FA3), which will be reviewed prior to admission to student teaching but after admission to the Teacher Education Program.

Evidence of learning will also be provided by course instructors and cooperating mentor teachers or other supervisory personnel, who will complete surveys after each experience in Stage 3.

Students will meet the requirements of Stage 4 while successfully completing a student teaching internship. Student teaching supervisors are encouraged to review field competencies established by PDE and report successful completion of the competencies on forms required by PDE.

Documents

GETTYSBURG COLLEGE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT...EDUCATION DEPARTMENT Teacher,Education,Program,Curriculum,&,Portfolio,Guide,!p.!2! ARTIFACTS